Is there any sadder word in the English language than hopeless? Life is full of challenges, setbacks, and hardships. To face those without a lick of hope is like trying to climb a fence that's leaning toward you...or kiss someone who's leaning away from you. I just finished reading Ray Johnston's 2014 book, The Hope Quotient. While the opening of the book, in my humble opinion, tries a little too hard to make Hope seem like the magic pill that can cure all ills, the remaining 14 chapters are full of great stories and helpful hints to increase a person's level of hope (their hope quotient) and thereby make life's challenges, setbacks, and hardships more manageable.
In the chapter titled "Play to Your Strengths", Johnston tells a story that first appeared in a couple British newspapers in order to make a point about how doing what God wired you to do increases hope:
A Brit named Jack Harris lost his elderly wife and took up jigsaw puzzles to occupy his mind. Over time, he chose more and more complex puzzles. He finally tackled a five-thousand-piece puzzle depicting a 150-year-old painting of the return of the prodigal son. He worked on the puzzle for hours each day for more than seven years. When he was eighty-six years old, he was finally ready to finish the puzzle - 4,999 pieces already in place - and he couldn't find piece number 5,000. The only thing he could imagine was that somehow that piece had fallen off the table and the dog ate it. Jack was distraught. The puzzle was no longer being manufactured. But when the company that created the puzzle heard about his problem, they crafted a one-of-a-kind piece, and Jack finished the job.
Almost everybody I know could sympathize with that. Who hasn't put together a puzzle and discovered the last piece is missing? The problem is, when every puzzle piece is in place except for one, what is the only thing you notice when you look at that puzzle? The missing piece. That's a God's-eye view when you're not functioning using your gifts.
Perhaps you believe that no one will miss you if you drop off the table somehow. Nothing could be further from the truth. God's perspective is, "I have a one-of-a-kind spot, just for you." God created you as a unique individual, and without you, the puzzle remains unfinished.
There are people, churches, and causes that will never reach their God-given potential if you don't find your God-given gifts and step into place. Surprising as it may seem to you, you may be the exact missing puzzle piece some group, some person, some church is looking for right now as you read this.
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Truth is...I was desperately searching for the puzzle I belonged in when I read these words. And then, God opened one manager's eyes to see things in my resume and LinkedIn profile that scores of others had been unimpressed by for the past ten months. As of yesterday, I am now gainfully employed and eager to see how my particular set of skills ("giftedness") fits perfectly.
I've never read anywhere if Paul Simon's I Am A Rock was specifically a response to John Donne's No Man Is An Island, but you couldn't blame a jury for ruling that way. Exhibit Number One: John Donne's assertion that you're not the only clam in the chowder and that when you walk through a storm you can hold your head up high because you'll never walk alone. No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thy friend's Or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind, And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. Exhibit Number Two: Paul Simon's declaration of the opposite.
However...it's lines like "If I never loved, I never would have cried" that make me think Simon is not so much saying he's separate from the world as he is wishing he had been. He strongly proclaims, "I am a rock. I AM an island," but it's got a bit of the old "methinks he protesteth too much" about it. What starts as a declaration of independence ends up being a realization that independence isn't all it's cracked up to be. Like the following panels from Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes:
Truth is...we need each other, even though sometimes it hurts.
Working at a Christian bookstore has been a good fit for me, what with my 14 years of experience in youth ministry, but I must admit to feeling a bit conflicted lately. As with all brick-and-mortar booksellers, online retailers have been hurting us. There has been a need to expand the store's offerings beyond books and CDs. And so, an increasing amount of floor space is being given to gift items: mugs, jewelry, water bottles, monogrammed journals, wall hangings... The result is that deeply-loved passages of Scripture have become slogans and catchphrases, instead of life-changing, soul-stirring truth. The cross has gone from being an "emblem of suffering and shame" to a color-coordinated piece of decor.
It all reminds me of this passage from Brennan Manning's The Signature of Jesus:
Organized religion has domesticated the crucified Lord of glory, turned him into a tame symbol. Viewed as a church relic, the cross does not disturb our comfortable religiosity. But when the crucified, risen Christ, instead of remaining an icon, comes to life and delivers us over to the fire he came to light, he creates more havoc than all the heretics, secular humanists, and self-serving preachers put together.
Truth is...Jesus never got along very well with The Establishment or did as was expected. As C. S. Lewis wrote about Aslan, the Christ-figure in The Chronicles of Narnia, "Safe?...Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."
I don't know if you've ever played this game before. It goes something like this. You feel the need to get a message from God, so you close your eyes, flip open a Bible, put your finger on a page and read whatever verse you land on. Some folks are so gee-golly-willickers about their faith, they think God will guide this partially-random process so it results in deep wisdom and guidance.
Granted, there is deep wisdom on practically every page of your friendly neighborhood Bible, so you're bound to land upon something fairly useful...but to think it will be God's personal message for your particular situation? Seriously? "Why are you talking about this?' you ask. I happen to be staring at a mostly-blank computer screen, wondering what to concoct as a post for this blog. Let's see here...close my eyes...flip open a Bible...point and read. COLOSSIANS 4:3-4 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. (NIV) Hmmm. I could ask for worse things. Truth is...maybe you could do some praying, and maybe next week will be better.
On July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, our fledgling Congress published the following bit of classic literature.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, - that all men are created equal, - that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, - that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. And on this day, in this place, let me offer the following. The unanimous Declaration of those who are answering the call of God: When in the Course of cosmic events, it becomes necessary for the One True God to dissolve the spiritual bands which have enslaved His people to sin, and to confer upon them an imbued righteousness, the free and equal station to which the righteousness of Jesus Christ lifts them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that He should declare the causes which impels Him to the dissolution. We hold these truths to be divinely evident, - that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) - that the duly earned wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) - that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8) - that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death (Romans 6:3) - that if you confess with your mouth "Jesus is lord," and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9) - that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life (Romans 6:4) - that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) Truth is...declaring one's independence and living out that independence are two different things.
Sitting in a church service is no guarantee that your life will continue. But having your earthly life end is no guarantee that God's Truth will be silenced.
Singer, songwriter, author, speaker, wife, mother, blogger Carolyn Arends has shared a piece in reaction to the Charleston killings that gently reminds us that there is hope even in the midst of tragedy. Click here to read her short piece and listen to the song The Last Word. (There is also a link to Steven Curtis Chapman's new song, You Will Not Be Overcome.) Truth is...every day, everyone's life can include a desire, and a reasonable reason, to despair. For all of eternity, those who trust in the name of Jesus can live with a greater reason to stand strong and have hope.
The year was 1996. The event was the Cornerstone Music Festival, a gathering of Christian artists and fans, celebrating music with a message. Rich Mullins was being his normal self: fielding questions from the press with utter transparency, humility, and the twinkling eyes of sassiness.
He spoke of moving to a Navajo reservation. He spoke of what Christian music is and is not. He spoke more truth in five minutes of a press conference than I've heard in many a 30-minute sermon. "Maybe God is bigger than the conventions of middle-class American Churchianity."
